1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to canopies, more specifically to a collapsible cover and frame for covering a mobile vehicle such as a car or motorcycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One canopy for vehicles is disclosed by Henry Dietz, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,765, patented Sept. 9, 1969. It is a two part shelter with one part being stationary and the other part being movable.
The stationary portion has a shell-like, arcuate, upstanding section, mounted on a flat horizontal plate which is anchored to the ground by the weight of a vehicle.
In the open canopy position, the stationary portion is nested within a higher shell-like, arcuate, upstanding movable section which is hinged near the plate, at the open ends of the shells, and operated by a lever and counterbalancing spring for rotation between the upstanding vertical and a horizontal position.
A vehicle is driven into the stationary portion with the apparatus in the open canopy position, the rear part of the vehicle extending out of the stationary portion. The movable portion of the canopy is then levered down over the vehicle to a horizontal position whereupon it rests upon the ground around the rear part of the vehicle, so that the canopy encloses the vehicle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,390, Maurice L. Brown discloses two upstanding, pivotally joined, nested shells. Both the smaller and the larger shells are movable from the vertical to a horizontal position. The pivot is attached to a base which extends sufficiently to form a vehicle encompassing enclosure with the shells, when they are rotated to it horizontally, with the pivot at the center. The shells are flanged along one edge to form a weather seal across the top of the enclosure when they are both down.
In the open canopy position, a vehicle is driven onto the base from the open shells'side, whereby it is covered at the front by the nested shells. One of the two shells is then rotated to the base over the exposed end of the vehicle to form a weather resistant enclosure.
A portable canopy, trademarked CARCOON, patent pending, disclosed by Bolder Designs, Inc., Sante Fe, N.M. 87505, includes a weather resistant fabric over a frame having movable end portions.
The frame has two pivots fastened to the ground on each side of the canopy. The pivots are fastened apart from one another at a distance that is about equal to one third of the length of the canopy, fastening being by lag bolt or epoxied ground pads.
Outboard of each pivot is a movable support bar which attaches to the pivot on the other side of the canopy by way of a spacer bar across the top and a movable support bar similarly attached to the pivot on the other side of the canopy. This forms an inverted U shaped, rotatable support for each end of the enclosure.
A pair of support bars mounted to the pivots, cross one another inboard of each pivot, and are fastened together where they cross in an X. The crossed pair is joined across the top to a similar pair on the other side of the canopy, by a pair of parallel spacer bars.
The crossed center portion of the frame provides a fixed, rigid box-like enclosure, while either end of the enclosure is rotated upward to permit entry of a vehicle to the enclosure.
Alternatively to lag bolt or epoxied ground plate mounting, water ballast bladders are provided to weigh down the frame wall sides and ends.